Friday, 31 March 2017

There's a story in The Mirror today that claims Bill Roache is the only Coronation Street cast member who knows who pushed Ken Barlow down the stairs.

Could this really be true, I wonder?

"A soap insider" tells the Mirror this news.

And from now on I'm going to refer to this mystery soap insider as Sophie Snider in the same way that we refer to The Sun's "Corrie Source" as Mr Curry Sauce.

So, er, Sophie Snider tells the Mirror: “A lot of the cast have been asking to not know who is guilty, so they don’t change how they act on screen. They also like playing along. But Bill has just had another batch of scripts sent to him, so he now has worked out who it is.

“For now Bill is keeping his lips sealed about who is the guilty party. It is the source of lots of conversation backstage at the moment. It has really grabbed the attention of the cast and viewers.”

Bev Callard, who plays Liz McDonald in Coronation Street, was interviewed on ITV's Loose Women today. She talked about hitting 60 on her birthday this week and as a special birthday surprise, her former co-star Charlie Lawson, who played Jim McDonald turned up on the show!

Charles brought Bev a birthday cake in the shape of the Rovers Return.

Bev also opened up on the show about her mental health issues and being an ambassaor for the mental health charity Mind.

She said: “My doctor seems to think I’m bipolar two. which I didn’t really know what that was. With ordinary bipolar you get massive highs and massive lows and I don’t get the massive highs. I get the bad bits really.”

Describing the illness she added: “If you’re a strong person it can get you down. I think depression is the curse of the strong.”

Well, this picture seems to have broken the internet in the last few hours.

It's by Jimll Paint It who paints pictures on request of his follows. Of today's image he says:
"It's the year 3998. Everybody else in the world is dead, except for Ken
Barlow and his creation Robo-Deirdre 4000 - Requested by Alex Leam"

Jim's no stranger to painting Coronation Street fan scenes. Have a look at some of these wacky Coronation Street paintings on his Tumblr account.

Another devastating picture of the old Coronation Street set has come to light, via our friends at Conversation Street, the Coronation Street podcast team. You can view the picture on their twitter feed at https://twitter.com/ConversationStrIt was only a few weeks ago when we blogged the last set of heartbreaking pictures. The bulldozers had moved in and demolition began earlier this month. You can see those pictures here.

But fear not. Although it looks (and is) heartbreaking for fans to see the old set in this state - unloved, uncared for, left to rot and ruin before the developers move in, there is a glimmer of hope.

Friday 31st March 2017
SALLY CONTINUES TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT While Sally prepares for her radio interview, Rosie gets offered even more money for the glamour shoot. Sophie informs Kevin of how Rosie’s going back to glamour modelling to help him avoid bankruptcy. Furious, will Kevin be able to talk her out of it? Jenny and Sally are interviewed on Radio Weatherfield. Sally talks about her cancer experience as Tim and Rosie listen with pride. But back at home Sally takes a phone call from the hospital and listens in horror to the bombshell that her latest mammogram shows her cancer has returned.
BRIAN REJECTS CATHY Roy quizzes Brian on carbon emissions, leaving Brian flustered trying to keep on top of his lies. When Cathy asks Brian out again, will he agree?
ELSEWHERE Leanne counsels Toyah, who’s struggling to believe Peter’s claim that he’s stayed sober and faithful. Fiz gives stressed Alya a massage in Underworld. When Alya praises her magic fingers and Sean points out how much professionals charge, Fiz has a brainwave.

Friday 31st March 2017
SALLY’S TROLL OVERSTEPS THE MARK Sally tells Tim she’s got to go into hospital as her cancer’s come back. Tim’s floored as he hugs his wife. Rosie and Sophie burst into No.4 and play Sally and Tim a recording of Sally’s phone call from the hospital that’s been posted online. Sally’s sickened to realise she’s the victim of a vicious prank. Tim’s furious to discover the extent of the online abuse Sally’s been suffering and insists she deletes her accounts. Sally’s deeply disturbed.
BRIAN AND CATHY COLLIDE Roy’s puzzled when Cathy mentions the play she saw with Brian last night. Roy tackles Brian about his deception and vows he has no objection to him and Cathy spending time together as friends. Brian informs Cathy that Roy’s given his blessing to their friendship, but were they both hoping for more?
ELSEWHERE Peter explains to Toyah how he saw her with Toby and thought he’d lost her. He swears he hasn’t drunk or cheated on her. Will Toyah believe him and the couple be reconciled? Aidan’s annoyed to find the factory girls helping Jenny with wedding dress ideas on company time. Johnny suggests she picks one person to design it, so Jenny selects Eva, knowing it will wind up Aidan. Fiz tells Tyrone she’s going to take a night school course in massage therapy.

Thursday, 30 March 2017

It's that time again - that time where ratings need pushed and hashtags need created. Now, the real whodunit here is who on earth suggested doing yet another whodunit on Corrie? As the whole country saw on Monday night, Ken was mysteriously found at the bottom of the stairs, with several contrived suspects lined up just beforehand. The Barlows are waiting for news in the hospital, a place where Tracy points out they spend more time at than home. Adam suddenly saunters in, apparently having just hopped off a flight from Canada - a claim I don't believe for one minute.

Mercifully, Wednesday's episode did not focus too heavily on the show's hundredth whodunit, but we do see things take a sinister turn when a doctor at the hospital asks the reception to contact Weatherfield police. Oh, hurrah! We are reunited with DS Mackinnon because there are no other police officers in Weatherfield. After waiting for her pantomime pyrotechnic of smoke to clear, the police officer - who is now lacking her infamous plait - delivers the news that this is in fact now an attempted murder investigation.

Strangely (or maybe not since this is a soap), DS Mackinnon seems to have mellowed a little bit since she exercised her vendetta against Maria. Each twisted branch of the Barlow family tree reacts slightly differently to this blow, some quickly turning their heads away and some simply hit by shock. However, this blogger couldn't help but notice the vacant, somewhat uncouth expression of Amy Barlow, especially after an earlier scene in which sort-of cousin Adam told Amy the messages they had exchanged need to be deleted.

Dozy Rosie has got an idea up her sleeve to help Kevin with his debts, but is one that Our Pal Sal will not approve of. She's rang her old modelling agency, and as luck would have it they've offered her a photoshoot. Glamour modelling. Of course, Saint Sophie tries to talk her out of it but all Rosie can think of is the money. However, the idea of glamour modelling would not fit in well with Weatherfield's very own Emily Pankhurst and her campaign for women and the mastectomy bras Underworld are making. Over a conversation at the Metcalfe-Webster dinnertable, Sal berates the spelling of her Twitter followers and then invites Rosie to join her on the radio to discuss the bra production, as someone who used to do glamour modelling and has now "seen the light", thereby creating yet another dilemma for the four at number four.

"Who was that on the phone?"

"No-one...""Come on,, it's never no-one with you!"

Elsewhere, Brian bumbles his way out of the flat above the café and onto a not-date to the theatre with Cathy, all unbeknownst to Roy. For now, anyway. Oh, and Johnny and Jenny (what would their powercouple name be??) have decided to bring the wedding forward to July. Johnny sent Jenny off gleefully with his credit card. Daft man!

A bit of a short review, I know but I had a busy (exciting!) day yesterday and I've a busy weekend ahead. So - I found Wednesday's episode a little flat but I am, as always, looking forward to where the smaller storylines are headed rather than the ratings-grabbers. Whodunit? Whocares? One thing I would like to know though - did Ken's kettle survive?